Michael Rutter
Sir Michael Llewellyn Rutter CBE FRS FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci (born 15 August 1933) was the first Professor of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology".Pearce, J (2005). Eric Taylor: The cheerful pessimist. Child and Adolescent Mental Health,Feb;10(1):40–41.http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-3588.2005.00115.x Currently he is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, a post he has held since 1966. Early life Rutter was the oldest child born to Alice (née Rudman) & Frank Rutter. Career Rutter set up the Medical Research Council (UK) Child Psychiatry Research Unit in 1984 and the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre 10 years later, being honorary director of both until October 1998. He was Deputy Chairman of the Wellcome Trust from 1999 to 2004, and has been a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation since 1992. Rutter's work includes: early epidemiologic studies (Isle of Wight and Inner London); studies of autism involving a wide range of scientific techniques and disciplines, including DNA study and neuroimaging; links between research and practice; deprivation; influences of families and schools; genetics; reading disorders; biological and social, protective and risk factors; interactions of biological and social factors; stress; longitudinal as well as epidemiologic studies, including childhood and adult experiences and conditions; and continuities and discontinuities in normal and pathological development. The British Journal of Psychiatry credits him with a number of "breakthroughs"Kolvin, I (1999). The contribution of Michael Rutter. British Journal of Psychiatry, Jun;174:471-475. in these areas. Rutter is also recognized as contributing centrally to the establishment of child psychiatry as a medical and biopsychosocial specialty with a solid scientific base.Hartman, L (2003). Review of Green & Yule, Research and Innovation on the Road to Modern Child Psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry, Jan;160:196-197.http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/1/196 He has published over 400 scientific papers and chapters and some 40 books. He was the European Editor for Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders from 1974 till 1994. In 1972 Rutter published 'Maternal Deprivation Reassessed',Rutter, M (1981) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed, Second edition, Harmondsworth, Penguin. which New Society describes as "a classic in the field of child care".Rutter (1981) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed, Second edition, Harmondsworth, Penguin. in which he evaluated the maternal deprivation hypothesis propounded by Dr John Bowlby in 1951.Bowlby, J (1951) Maternal Care and Mental Health, World Health Organisation WHO Bowlby had proposed that “the infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment” and that not to do so may have significant and irreversible mental health consequences. This theory was both influential and controversial. Rutter made a significant contribution, his 1981 monograph and other papers (Rutter 1972; Rutter 1979) comprising the definitive empirical evaluation and update of Bowlby's early work on maternal deprivation. He amassed further evidence, addressed the many different underlying social and psychological mechanisms and showed that Bowlby was only partially right and often for the wrong reasons. Rutter highlighted the other forms of deprivation found in institutional care, the complexity of separation distress and suggested that anti-social behaviour was not linked to maternal deprivation as such but to family discord. The importance of these refinements of the maternal deprivation hypothesis was to reposition it as a "vulnerability factor" rather than a causative agent, with a number of varied influences determining which path a child will take.Holmes J. (1993) John Bowlby & Attachment Theory. Routledge. pp. 49-53. ISBN 0-415-07729-X After the end of the Ceasescu regime in Romania in 1989, Rutter led the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team, following many of the orphans adopted into Western families into their teens in a series of substantial studies on the effects of early privation and deprivation across multiple domains affecting child development including attachment and the development of new relationships. The results yielded some reason for optimism. Awards and honors In `995 he received the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology. Rutter has honorary degrees from the Universities of Leiden, Louvain, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Chicago, Minnesota, Ghent, Jyväskylä, Warwick, East Anglia, Cambridge and Yale. He has remained in practice until late into his career and the Michael Rutter Centre for Children and Adolescents, based at Maudsley Hospital, London, is named after him. Rutter is an honorary member of the British Academy and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society. He is a Founding Fellow of the Academia Europaea and the Academy of Medical Sciences and was knighted in 1992. The citation for his knighthood reads: Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. References See also *Michael Rutter Centre for Children and Adolescents Publications Books *Rutter, M. (1981) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed, 2nd edn, Harmondsworth: Penguin Book Chapters Papers *Rutter, M. (1979) Maternal deprivation 1972-1978: new findings, new concepts, new approaches, Child Development 50: 283-305. Further reading *Green, J & Yule, W (2001) Research and Innovation on the Road to Modern Child Psychiatry.Volume 1. Festschrift for Professor Sir Michael Rutter. London:Gaskell. ISBN 1901242625 , ISBN 1901242 *Taylor, E & Green, J (2001) Research and Innovation on the Road to Modern Child Psychiatry. Volume 2: Classic Papers by Professor Sir Michael Rutter ISBN 1901242633 ISBN 9781901242638 External links * International Attachment Conference 2007 * Relationship Advice: How Understanding Adult Attachment Can Help * Attachment theory in the classroom * Attachment Questionnaire * Attachment Diagnostics (German) * Details of authors, publications, measures and books on attachment psychology * A support forum for adults with attachment disorder or attachment related issues.. welcome! * Rene Spitz's movie "Psychogenic Disease in Infancy" (1957) showing examples of children with insecure attachments Category:Developmental psychologists Category:British psychiatrists Category:Child psychiatrists Category:Attachment Category:Psychoanalysis Category:Psychological theories Category:Interpersonal relationships Category:Human development Rutter, Michael Rutter, Michael Rutter, Michael